Varik's hands trembled faintly as he bowed. "I will begin preparations imdiately, my lord. The shops can be operational within days."
Before he could turn, Selena's voice cut in. "Wait."
Her golden tattoos pulsed faintly, tracing soft light across her arms as she looked toward Adrian. "Only you can create these spheres, right? That might be fine now, but what happens when the demand grows?"
She folded her arms, smirking wryly. "You can't just sit in a room all day making them."
"Ah… déjà vu. We've had this problem before, with the ink."
A brief silence followed. Everyone turned toward Adrian, waiting.
His expression didn't change, but behind his calm eyes, his thoughts stirred.
He rembered the first ti he made a Knowledge Sphere, it wasn't invention, but instinct.
Mira almost died trying to save him. He wanted to repay her sohow, and the only thing Mira valued most was runes.
But re rune scrolls had felt… unworthy.
In that mont, the Source had shown him the way. He had already analyzed the symbol used on skill books, how it transferred knowledge to one's mind.
But those were temporary. Fleeting. Once used, they faded, leaving no lasting comprehension.
He had deconstructed this symbol of transmission, restructured its energy flow, and inverted it. Turning what was ant to vanish into sothing that could remain.
He had made permanence from impermanence, encoding comprehension instead of mory. And when that pattern fused with his Source, it beca a spell, the foundation of the Knowledge Sphere.
He hadn't even fully understood it then. He had acted on instinct, guided by the Source itself.
Now, standing in the clan hall, he analyzed it more deeply and understood. He knew that depending solely on himself would destroy the clan before it even began.
He raised his hand. White-grey light shimred, forming several luminous spheres that hovered like miniature stars.
"This," he said quietly, "contains my comprehension of the skill that creates Knowledge Spheres. You could call it Imprint Skill."
The spheres pulsed gently, each one containing layers of understanding that would take years to develop naturally. Thomas leaned forward, studying the nearest sphere with fascination.
"It allows one to imprint any kind of knowledge, conceptual, technical, even comprehension, to be etched into essence." Adrian's voice carried certainty, but also curiosity. "I've never shared this before."
"I don't even know if others can use it the sa way. So… let's test it."
The spheres drifted outward, one to each of them. Septimus caught his with reverent hands, the scholar's eyes wide with wonder.
Draven snatched his from the air with a grunt. "Knowledge as a weapon. I like it."
Varik caught his last, the faint glow bathing his face. His heart pounded against his ribs like a caged bird.
To him, this wasn't just a gift, it was trust. The kind no lord had ever shown him.
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He, a re administrator from a forgotten world, had just been handed sothing that could alter the galaxy. The Drakenholt patriarch had treated him like a servant with a ledger.
But Adrian gave him sothing worth more than entire star systems.
He bowed deeper, eyes burning with a strange new loyalty. "My lord… I will not disappoint you."
As the spheres sank into their foreheads, knowledge flooded their minds like a tide. Adrian watched their faces contort with concentration, so wincing as foreign concepts carved themselves into them.
Draven grunted, pressing his palm against his temple. "Ugh, Hells, it's like trying to read a book that's screaming in your head."
"Pay attention," Septimus said dryly, rubbing his temples. His scholarly discipline showed as he processed the information.
Minutes crawled by. The hall fell silent except for the occasional muttered curse.
Then, a spark of lightning crackled across Septimus' hand. He lifted a finger, and a new sphere shimred into existence, faintly glowing with streaks of blue-white lightning.
Everyone turned toward him. The sphere pulsed with electrical energy, clearly different from Adrian's white-grey creations.
Adrian's eyes narrowed, intrigued. He took the sphere from Septius' hand and pressed it against his chest without hesitation.
The knowledge flooded in, currents of lightning comprehension, techniques he already understood but layered with new interpretation. It was familiar yet foreign, like reading a book written in another heartbeat.
When the flow ended, he smiled. "It works."
The room filled with gasps.
Aurelia exhaled, shaking her head slightly. "Then anyone who comprehends the Imprint Skill can make the spheres themselves."
Septimus nodded, already analyzing his creation. "Though not just anyone can use it fully. The sphere I made holds only what my essence allows, lightning concepts."
"I know a little about the water concept, but I could not hold that knowledge in my lightning essence." He frowned, testing the limits of his understanding.
He concentrated again, this ti drawing on his inscriber training. The knowledge of rune patterns could be stored, but when he tried to insert so concepts he learned about water, it broke apart like sand.
"Rune knowledge is also possible, but just patterns, not different concepts, even if you had comprehended it." Septimus looked toward Adrian. "I think you could do any knowledge sphere due to your echo affinity."
Adrian agreed, though he knew the truth lay deeper than echo. "Yes. It seems like the spheres depend on the essence used to form them. A fire user's sphere will carry fire concepts. A healer's, healing. But it's enough. It ans we can scale it."
Selena stepped forward next, "Then let's make sure it isn't a fluke."
She activated her own comprehension, gravity essence swirling around her like invisible threads that bent the air.
A sphere ford at her fingertip, not white-grey, not blue, but deep violet-black, pulsing with silent weight. The gravity Knowledge Sphere hovered for a mont before she caught it, her expression faintly triumphant.
"It works." She examined the sphere with professional interest. "This one only holds planetary gravity knowledge, but that's fine. It ans production is possible."
Draven let out a long groan, still massaging his skull. "Of course, you inscribers make it look easy. My brain's still trying to untangle what half of that ant."
Septimus smacked him lightly with his staff. "That's because your brain thinks with biceps."
Draven grinned through the pain. "And those biceps have saved your life plenty of tis!"
Their bickering broke the tension, laughter echoing softly through the clan hall. Even Lucian's mouth twitched in what might have been amusent.
But Varik was still staring at the spheres in awe. This was sothing that could change the entire galaxy, a technique to imprint knowledge itself.
When the chatter subsided, Septimus turned serious. "This skill cannot spread freely. Only those we trust, those bound to the clan, must learn it."
"Once it leaks, we'll lose control of everything."
Varik nodded quickly, his administrator instincts kicking in. "I agree. Once the first shops are established and we gain official recognition from the Aethelian Empire, we can patent the thod."
"Legally bind it to the Origin Clan. Then, even if others learn, they'll need to pay rights and shares to use it."
Septimus tapped his staff thoughtfully against the floor. "Good. The law can protect what secrecy cannot."
Adrian gave a faint smile, watching his companions plan with growing satisfaction. "Then it's decided. We limit production to the trusted few. Knowledge may spread, but its heart remains here."
Selena crossed her arms, her grin returning. "For a clan that's only a day old, we're already rewriting the laws of learning."
Aurelia laughed softly, her tone proud. "Then let the galaxy learn our na properly."
Varik straightened, bowing once again with renewed purpose. "I'll begin preparations imdiately, my lord."
For the first ti since Earth, Adrian felt it, a foundation, not of power, but of purpose.
The Origin Clan had truly begun.
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